Going to get off to a good start today with some cereal for breakfast:
"Kellogg is opening a cafe in New York as it pushes to reinvent cereal’s soggy image. The company based in Battle Creek, Mich., says bowls will cost $6.50 to $7.50 and combine cereals like Special K and Frosted Flakes with ingredients like pistachios and lemon zest. The move comes as Kellogg Co. has suffered declining cereal sales in the United States, with people reaching for a growing array of breakfast options. To boost sales, the company is also trying to market cereal as a night-time treat and on-the-go snack. Kellogg says its cereal cafe, located on Broadway, between 48th and 49th streets, will open July 4. The cafe will also serve ice cream dishes, juices, and coffees."
$weet!
"Kellogg Co., struggling with slumping US cereal sales, will invest about $100 million in a venture fund, a bid to use a Silicon Valley approach to find the food industry’s next growth engine. The fund — named Eighteen94 Capital, a nod to the year the company’s flaked cereal was invented — will look to take minority stakes in startups developing new packaging, ingredients, products, and technology, Kellogg said in a statement Monday. Kellogg joins packaged-food rivals General Mills Inc. and Campbell Soup Co. in turning to venture funds to cope with a changing industry."
I've got to get going:
Record road travel predicted for Fourth of July weekend
One last Fourth for the Hatch Shell’s caretaker
Will this year’s event be the final Fourth on the Esplanade?
For $ome:
"The Boston Pops fireworks show needs to change" by Shirley Leung Globe Columnist July 01, 2016
Boston’s Independence Day party is a tricky one for corporate sponsors, who don’t usually like one-day events. The cost — while free to the public — is steep for the underwriter: $2 million to cover the fireworks, production costs, set up, and clean up. And this year got complicated because of changes to the event. First, it was going to be a country music lineup and locally televised; then it became pop stars Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas in a national broadcast. Ultimately, there were too many loose ends and too many strings attached for corporate America to ink a pricey deal on short notice.
????????
They can't find $2 million amongst the the $600 million or more in corporate tax subsidies and "goodies?"
What a bunch of greedy misers!!
And during Christmas of all seasons!
So what is the right price to underwrite our fireworks extravaganza? For that, I turned to David D’Alessandro, who inked marquee sponsorships with the Boston Marathon and the Olympics when he was the CEO of John Hancock. D’Alessandro said. “The smart move would be to monetize it.”
In other words, sell every piece of it you can, as NESN does with a Red Sox broadcast, [and] aggressively sell merchandise and food concessions, even cutting deals with brands like Coca-Cola to make it the show’s official beverage.
“It is T-shirt heaven,” he said. “If you cannot get a half-million dollars of merchandise and concession, you are a dolt.”
Another idea: a multiday patriotic festival on the Esplanade leading up to the fireworks concert.
“If you want to institutionalize this thing, you need to commercialize it,” he said.
Happy Independen$e Day!
I can’t see the Pops or fireworks going away, but we need fresh eyes to look for ways to trim operating costs and develop revenue opportunities to make our Independence Day bash attractive to sponsors.
Change is never easy for this town, especially when it comes to tinkering with tradition. But this time change is necessary if we want every Fourth of July to end with a bang and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”
That's my Waterloo.
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The begging is really unbecoming.
I don't know what the future holds, but that's a look behind the $cenes. I'm glad they caught the bombers before the blast. That guarantees a calm and peaceful weekend at all the events (just don't record anything on your phone).
"Against the grim backdrop of the terrorist attacks in Istanbul and Orlando, officials said there is no known credible threat to the area heading into the holiday weekend. Colonel Richard D. McKeon, superintendent of the State Police, said hundreds of uniformed troopers will be on duty, as will the State Police’s air and marine units and the National Guard, and, he said, “there will be so many security measures and personnel you will not see, including plainclothes troopers mingling through the crowd.” Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans also reminded Bostonians that there will be a strong police presence in neighborhoods far from the Esplanade."
They say that before every false flag, be it staged and scripted crisis drill or actual event; however, the SAFE COURSE IS TO STAY AWAY from the CITY OF BO$TON at ALL COSTS!
"Police captain’s son charged with plotting ISIS-inspired attack" by Travis Andersen and Andy Rosen Globe Staff June 30, 2016
An Adams man, Alexander Ciccolo, 23, indicted on new charges.
Ciccolo is the son of Boston police Captain Robert Ciccolo, who set the FBI investigation in motion in the fall of 2014 when he told agents that his son has a history of mental illness and had expressed a desire to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq or Syria, according to legal filings and officials.
In addition, Ciccolo maintained a Facebook profile under the name Ali Al Amriki and told a witness working with the FBI that he planned to attack two bars and a police station in another state with pressure cooker bombs or portable microwave bombs, according to prior legal filings.
He said during a second meeting that he wanted to target a state university, and that he would need firearms and pressure cooker bombs, records show. Last July 4, the witness supplied Ciccolo with four firearms, and he was arrested soon after, according to court records. He was barred from possessing guns after a prior drunken driving conviction.
Happy Anniversary!
Investigators later searched his apartment and discovered “several partially constructed ‘Molotov cocktails,’ ” US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office said in a statement. “These incendiary devices contained what appeared to be shredded Styrofoam soaking in motor oil. It is alleged that Ciccolo had previously stated that this mixture would cause the fire from the exploded devices to stick to people’s skin and make it harder to put the fire out.”
FBI likes framing patsies for false flag fires, don't they?
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Goodbye, friends. Got a cookout to go to today, and it's time to face up to the facts. Time to stop barking, grab a burger, and enjoy the Good Life. All I ask is that you take care when out on the roads, and avoid the beach -- unless you want a good read.
Isn't there a ball game on somewhere?
AFTER PARTY CLEAN UP:
"Beware live fireworks shells on Plymouth shore" by Trisha Thadani Globe Correspondent July 05, 2016
PLYMOUTH — When a barge carrying the town’s July 4th fireworks burst into flames mid-show, consuming many of the projectiles, disappointed viewers figured that was that.
But new dangers appeared Tuesday morning as unexploded shells washed up on popular beaches.
The town warned beachgoers to watch out for the shells, which could explode and seriously injure them. By afternoon, crews in Plymouth recovered a “pickup truck’s-worth” of unexploded fireworks along the coast, said Ed Bradley, the fire chief.
Thousands of spectators had flocked the Plymouth shores Monday, but rain and foggy weather and a return to the workweek Tuesday morning thinned out the crowd. As the clouds lifted and people filled the shorelines, many beachgoers shrugged off the news that dangerous fireworks could wash up next to them.
“It was an accident, no one died and that’s all that matters,” said Lee Truschelli, 36, who spent the afternoon fishing off a shoreline with her three young boys. “It’s pyrotechnics. Things like this happen.’’
“I just told my girls that if they see anything they don’t recognize, just don’t touch it,” said another unfazed resident.
The fire broke out around 9:30 p.m. during the town’s annual Fourth of July Celebration. A second barge nearby caught fire about 35 minutes later.
The fires caused hundreds of fireworks to fall into the water. Even when soaked, the shells could be dangerous.
“Professional fireworks are wrapped in such a way that they are somewhat waterproof so that they can be used in the rain,” Bradley said. “Once they dry out they can become a little unstable.”
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Related: Crews in Plymouth recover ‘pickup truck’s worth’ of unexploded fireworks
The Brighton fire department helped clear the beach. Should have done things a different way.
Find anything else in that sand?
Three-alarm fire leaves 16 homeless in Lynn
"An Illinois prosecutor says she will not file charges against a man whose flag-burning protest led to his arrest on Independence Day. Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said in a prepared statement Tuesday that she will not file charges against Bryton Mellott of Urbana because flag burning is ‘‘protected free speech.’’ Pictures posted on Mellott’s Facebook page over the weekend showed him holding a burning US flag. He wrote that he’s ‘‘not proud to be an American.’’ The message also mentions ‘‘atrocities’’ committed against people of color, those in poverty, women, and the LGBT community. The message appears to have been removed, but a picture remains. Urbana police were alerted to the post and say officers noticed commenters threatening Mellott and his employer, Wal-Mart. Police say Mellott was taken into custody out of concern for his safety...."
